Farmer Support Specialist
Location: US, IA, Davenport
Employment type: Full-time
Required experience: Not Applicable
Industry: Farming
Function: Customer Service

Company profile:
Working at FBNAt FBN, we put farmers first. For every decision we make, we consider its impact on farmers big and small. Only after this has been considered will we consider the impact of our decisions on FBN, followed by our fellow team members, and finally ourselves. Before making a decision, we listen to farmers and learn about how implementing it will impact them.While making a decision or working on a project, we prefer working in small teams to make sure our employees feel empowered and own their decisions. Finally, after our decisions are made, we communicate those decisions to our farmers and to the rest of the team.FBN employees are a diverse group with a common passion for agriculture. We respect humility, value honesty, and despise entitlement. We see farmers as hackers and entrepreneurs, able to fix things with duct tape and baling wire while predicting the weather and analysing their financial position on the commodities market. Just like farmers, we believe that if something is broken, it’s better to fix it than to complain about it.All FBN employees, regardless of the position, will spend meaningful time visiting farms, to meet with some of our founding and network farmers in order to discuss their equipment and data collection practices.As a Silicon Valley based company with a Midwestern culture, we believe in the power of getting things done, and understand that creativity is fostered by trust and the ability to focus. As a result, meetings are avoided and we respect everyone’s right to at least one day a week without meetings. Thursdays are considered “no meeting days.”Finally, there are no shrinking violets here. The team consists of many people with deep experience in agriculture, technology, data science, machine learning, physics among other areas. So be prepared to offer opinions!Interviewing at FBNOur interview panels are as diverse as our employees. You may be expected to interview with an agronomist, a physicist, a data scientist, and because of our strong focus on farmers, we expect every FBN candidate to interview with one of our founding farmers, advisory board members or network members. As a result, our interviews will take you out of your comfort zone. Be prepared to be asked to solve hard problems that may seem daunting, to be asked questions that will test your curiosity, and to meet really awesome people.If FBN sounds like a place where you would like to work and if you're excited about making a difference in the lives of thousands of farmers, take a look at our current openings.

Job description:
Farmers Business Network (“FBN”) is a new information and decision support system serving farmers and their trusted advisors. Farmers Business Network gathers disparate data from its farmer members, analyzes the data, and converts it into previously unavailable new insights and perspectives, that can help farmers make better decisions, manage risk, and ultimately increase the profitability of their farming operations.We're looking for someone to aggressively work to identify and recruit new farmers, while ensuring that existing members have the best possible experience using our service. This individual will cover a predetermined market area and will communicate with farmers in person, by phone or by email, as appropriate. They will work with the farmer to understand their business, set them up on our network, acquire data, and educate them on good data collection methods. Ambitious, yet realistic performance goals will be assigned to an individual in this position. This is a most important role within FBN because the people in this role are the face of FBN to our members.This position has openings for full time positions as well as some summer interns. We are looking for people who fit into our corporate culture of honesty, high integrity, commitment, hard work and a sincere passion for what we do.ResponsibilitiesOnce you join our team, you will be expected to:Participate in all training provided and make efforts to learn precision farming systems.Use software provided by FBN to document all customer interactions.Identify, and recruit high potential farmer members.Impeccable verbal and written communication skills.Plan and conduct farmer meetings to recruit and/or train them about FBN.Plan and conduct meetings to train FBN members on the use of the system and best practices needed to ensure quality data.Document and report suggestions from our members to improve FBN.Represent FBN at various farm industry trade shows/events.Keep a member retention rate above 95%.Help new members get signed up on the network.Help our members as needed to transfer their data to FBN.Some daily travel is required.

Requirements:
Required SkillsVery strong communication and interpersonal skills.Must have strong planning and organizational skills.Must be highly motivated to achieve business goals and objectives, with a strong work ethic.Ability to work effectively within a team structure.Highly farmer focused and committed to high member satisfaction.Good understanding of today’s Precision Farming Systems (Greenstar, CNH, AgLeader, IFS...)Very comfortable working with computers.Solid understanding of agronomy and crop production.Strong time management skills.Driving is required, as is a good driving historyRequired ExperienceCollege degree in an agronomic discipline or relevant experience.Experience or familiarity using Precision Farming Systems (some training may be provided).Farming experience or related background.

Benefits:
Health InsuranceStock optionsFarm visits